MOODY'S MEN (UPDATED)

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mitch1971

Posted on 02/16/06 @ 08:04 AM

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Other

# of Scenarios:

1

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Empires: Retail Release

MOODY'S MEN : THE TRAINYARD. (EMPIRES V1.3)

The Moody's Men scenario is set in WW2. It follows a day and night in the life of Capt. James T Moody and his small squad of men, as they attempt to infiltrate a german controlled trainyard in search of an engineer. Who survives is up to you, and Moody of course!

Music from COD, BIA, etc.
New sounds for rifle, mortor, tanks, mg-42, sounds for laying and destroying mines, tanks, frag and smoke grenades.

UPDATE TO MOODY'S MEN. 26.02.2006

With utter horror I discovered (thanks to Talon's play test) that most of the sounds in moody's men were not working. This is a weird thing I discovered in the editor when using home-made sounds and using 'animate object'. Without going into details I have achieve the re-do without having to bumb up the mb of the download (it was weird what I had to do to achieve this) and the update has been uploaded. All those of you who downloaded the game will have to download again, however, this is with all the missing needed audio, music, etc. It's worth it. I couldn't play the first upload of this when I downloaded and found what had happened, so I hope, for those who did, it wasn't too much of a hardship the first time around. Please see read me in RAR.

Playability: 4.6
This is a very fun scenario. You command a group of (depending on the difficulty level you choose) fairly- to insanely-outnumbered American GIs on a rescue/search and destroy mission. Smart, or at least decently adequate, tactics are necessary for survival as the rules of warfare are changed with the advent of both fragmentation and smoke grenades, remote mines and certain units or buildings that cannot be destroyed by mere bullets or even sometimes cascades of grenades. The ability to choose difficulty at the beginning, as well as the option to turn rain on and off only adds to the replay value. Added to all this is the excellent use of sounds, the *ping* of the M1 Garand clip popping will become just as familiar as in Call of Duty. Everything works toward bettering the experience, and to good effect.

Balance: 4.6
I played this campaign on medium, with rain (the significance of which is explained later). On medium, there are still relatively few enemies--less than a dozen tanks, less than a dozen pillboxes, only 80 infantry and only five flak guns to destroy. The difficulty ramps up quickly as one goes toward hard--the amount of infantry, for example, rises by 40. Not only that, but they are randomly spawned at the beginning of the scenario, so that one can never truly know where and with what the Germans may resist you. Truly, tactics are important. I spent a few long-ish periods letting my men heal themselves; this was, however, more due to my suspect tactics than any real difficulty on easy. I am easily confident that the campaign is just as beatable on hard, if one makes tactically-smart decisions. The Germans react aggressively to fragmentation grenades (though not smoke grenades, at the moment at least) and will counterattack somewhat if you use them. This kind of puts the player in a dilemma, grenade the Krauts and get more rushing at you, or stick with regular weapons? These are the kinds of decisions you will have to make to survive and then succeed.

Creativity: 5
This campaign is eminently creative. Each soldier can have up to two grenades, smoke or fragmentation, and they throw them seperately and at whatever target you wish. As is fairly obvious, fragmentation grenades do damage to enemy infantry. Smoke grenades cause the enemy in the area of the smoke to not see you--in other words, to not fire at you. On top of this, you can even grenade tanks! Beyond grenades, engineers can lay down remote mines, which are the only explosives available to you that are powerful enough to take out the flak guns you need to destroy. Beyond that, there is cover for soldiers behind buildings and wrecked vehicles from direct fire, as well as ammunition caches where one can resupply one's troops with grenades. Finally, there is the effect of rain, which can be turned on or off at the beginning, and adversely affects your soldiers' performance.

Map Design: 4.9
The map, simply put, is beautiful. Terrain is mixed very well, save for one or two places where I thought it could have been a bit better (otherwise it'd've gotten a 5 here). The train tracks are outstandingly original, the trains themselves are fairly convincing and overall, it really does feel like a real trainyard. Even the boundaries of the map don't stick too much in the memory because they are artfully done--piles of tank obstacles blocking inbound roads, for example, which is perfectly believable in the circumstances. The buildings in the trainyard are also magnificent--a train shed thing, for example, is made up of Korean doors topped with a graphic effect for a roof; it doesn't sound quite plausible in writing, but once seen, its ingenuity must be acknowledged and commended.

Story/Instructions: 4.4
The story/instructions is probably the weakest part of this campaign. The story, to me at least, seems to be one of the classics of World War II: Squad A is sent on mission, hasn't come back and higher command learns its in trouble, and Squad B is sent to investigate, rescue them and help them complete their mission. Which is a nice storyline, if nothing original. Also strangely, it takes place in a trainyard, one of WW2's most favorite settings (hey, trains were important). Though unoriginal, it is well done, but the presentation could be better. The instructions are very good--not only is there a lot of background detail in case you need it, but the locations are marked on the minimap. Finally, there are the hints section of instructions. Unfortunately, these give only the key commands for the various grenade commands; it would have been helpful if the other new gameplay elements were also mentioned, if just briefly (for instance, I forgot what the green circles were: recovery or cover, or if they were actually one and the same or what). This score would definitely go up if the (potential) issues were addressed.

Additional Comments:
- It may just be my graphics card (though I do have all graphics settings on the very highest), but I didn't see (or hear) any rain. I was kind of confused as to why my men's power fluctuated, until I realized it must've been rain. A graphic effect (I know, I know, its a very rare species of effect and may not even exist) would be nice, or if not that then at least a rain sound to notify the player.
- I believe its 'Jerry' and not 'Gerry.' Don't take my word for it though.
- One more thing. This is the first scenario in a long while that I've saved (and quit, for whatever reason), to come back to later. Amazing job!

[Edited on 09/03/06 @ 04:28 PM]

mitch1971File Author

Posted on 02/25/06 @ 07:45 PM

EDITED OUT: reason, moody updated with relevent infomation.

[Edited on 02/26/06 @ 09:44 PM]

lil gunner612

Posted on 03/01/06 @ 06:12 PM

one word... wow

have you ever thought of making games for a living, you would be very good at it

mitch1971File Author

Posted on 03/01/06 @ 07:44 PM

Thanks, lil gunner for your comments. And yes, I would like to make games for a living. Specifically design levels as my programming skills are nil.

Just one question back: Did all the sounds play for you? e.g. music in cinimatics, grenades, mines, blowing tanks, etc. It would put my mind at rest for any others who download it?

Thanks again.

lil gunner612

Posted on 03/01/06 @ 08:30 PM

no the sound didnt work for me, i forgot that there was no sound while i was watching the movies tho.

i aqlso like that you actually took your time on the scenarios it really payed off, i was wanting to play it ever sence you released the teaser.

[Edited on 03/01/06 @ 08:32 PM]

mitch1971File Author

Posted on 03/01/06 @ 08:39 PM

Glad it was worth it. I presume you played the edited version.

However, I don't know how to ask this, gunner, without sounding patronising, and seeing as no one else can confirm if it's working, but did you unpack the soundfiles from the .rar inside the zip (sorry it's in two formats) to the appropriate folders? Do the new g.i. rifle sounds play, or mg sounds, if any?

Thanks

[Edited on 03/01/06 @ 08:42 PM]

lil gunner612

Posted on 03/01/06 @ 09:23 PM

actually the rifle sounds worked for me, but there wasnt any music or other sounds besides the sound effects

mitch1971File Author

Posted on 03/01/06 @ 11:51 PM

I've just uninstalled Empires, re-installed, put the sound files in the right place, played the campaign, and it works.

Can anyone else please confirm if the sounds are playing when you've download the UPDATED file. No offence gunner, just need more than one confirmation.

Just to clarify:

1. Open the zip file.
2. Extract the .ssa campaign file to your campaign folder.
3. open the 'gamesounds.rar' and extract these files to your sound folder.
4. open the 'weaponssounds.rar' and extract these files to your sound folder.
5. Play scenario (hopefully with sounds)

lil gunner612

Posted on 03/02/06 @ 12:18 PM

i checked to see if the files were in the right place and they wernt, so i fixed them and it works now, srry for the inconvenience :D